Some of our backyard neighbors were having a party with a DJ on their back deck a couple Saturday's ago, which evolved into karaoke.  The girls were quite curious about the loud music and we had let them check it out from the deck a couple times.  Here they are saying "goodnight" to those raucous neighbors.  I don't think the music stopped until 12:30am, which was kind of annoying.  Fortunately the girls didn't wake up.  Matt has now talked to our other neighbors and everyone is in agreement that come 11:31pm on weekends it is time to call in a noise complaint if things are as loud as they were.  Or we could take my *joking* suggestion and have a karaoke challenge with them from our deck.  Based on my singing skills (which is a complete lack of skills) I'm sure they would stop pretty quickly, just to get me to be quiet ;D

Cute capri pants, right?

Nope.

Those are a pair of 0-3month jeans.

Melanie regularly gets up and dresses herself now, and there was a day last month when some of Amelia's laundry was in the same basket as the big girls' clothes, waiting to be folded, so Melanie grabbed them out of the basket. It wasn't until I saw her a little while later that the error was discovered.  Is she a skinny minnie or what?

Last Day of School

 Melanie had her last day of preschool for this year a couple weeks ago.  It was such a wonderful experience for us!  Melanie really loved going to school.  For the last day, all the kids from her school put on a little music program, and Melanie was so excited about it!  She invited her grandparents to come see her sing and was very pleased to see them in the audience when she was up on the stage. 

After the singing was done the kids came off the stage and received certificates from their teachers, commemorating their year of preschool. 

Melanie's guests in the audience

And what would a last day of preschool be without a cookie and punch reception?

Melanie was obviously very excited about her cookie.  

Despite how much I enjoy baking I don't keep cookies around on a regular basis, so they still are a special treat.

Melanie and her teacher, Miss Ginger.

 Melanie with Grandma and Grams

Of course we couldn't help but take her picture with the balloon lamb!

As we were leaving the realization that this was her last day of school started to sink in, and Melanie got pretty sad.  We tried to take her picture with the sign like we did on her first day of school, but she just stood there crying, talking about how she would miss Miss Ginger, so Matt stepped in to take the picture with her.  Luckily for Melanie, Miss Ginger and another teacher from Little Lambs are putting on a summer camp that Melanie will go to, so she'll get to see her again before too long.  I'm so glad Melanie had such a positive experience with preschool, I can only hope every year of school will be as positive as this one was!

Cute Homemade Cards

 For Mother's Day we opted to make cards instead of buying them.  Don't get me wrong, I appreciate the time and effort it takes to go out and find the perfect card.  I used to really enjoy picking out cards for special occasions and "just because" alike.  Times have changed, though, and the idea of hauling all three girls with me to our local Hallmark (which is definitely one of the most boring stores for kids, I'm sure) to pick out six Mother's Day cards and spending around $25 to do so just didn't seem like fun to me.  So we went the craft store route, which I think yielded a much cuter end result (hopefully our moms and grandmas thought so as well), plus the girls really enjoyed making them.  A card and an art project in one - bonus!

I decided to go with a flower theme, using the girls hands as the leaves on the flowers. 

 

Both Melanie and Claire thought the feeling of the paint on their hands was kinda funny.

 

 Do you like our multi-seasonal supplies?  A vinyl Easter table cloth I picked up on clearance for messy craft projects and a leftover St. Patrick's Day paper plate for the paint.

They thought the project was pretty great, especially since I never let them get that messy.

I tried to think of a way to get Amelia in on the cards but wasn't successful.  I thought about dipping her big toe in paint and putting a few dots on the cards and using additional colors of paint to turn the dots into ladybugs or using one of her fingers to make the blades of grass at the base of the flowers, but that was getting way too complicated.  She can just join in on the fun next year.  The only problem is that means I have to come up with another homemade card idea :/

Once the flowers were glued on the girls got to add some stickers to finish off the cards.

(In case you're wondering, the flowers were from one of those small silk floral bushes.  I got the ones we used at Michael's and they're regularly $1.99 and came with six blossoms, two of each color.)

I didn't take a picture of the backs of the cards, but I had Melanie write "We Love You!" on each of them before we started working on the fronts and had the girls sign the cards.  Well, Melanie signed. Claire scribbled and I signed on Amelia's behalf.

Then it was time to show off their handiwork (honestly, no pun intended, it just worked out that way)

 I'm amused by how you can visibly see Claire's focus deteriorating with each picture.

I also had Melanie use the same card idea for her "Thank You" cards for her teacher and preschool director.  Hey, they were cute, I already had all the supplies and Melanie's hand was already dirty, so why not?

Mother's Day

 For Mother's Day Melanie had made me a gift at preschool and brought it home the Thursday before, all wrapped and ready to go.  She was very excited about it, but very insistent I wait until it was actually Mother's Day to open my gift.  So it sat on the mantle waiting for the day to come.  When I was combing her hair on Sunday morning she asked what day it was (her typical question when I'm combing her hair in the morning) and when I told her it was Sunday she got really excited and exclaimed "It's Mother's Day!  I can give you your present!"  It was very cute to see her get so excited about the first present she's given me that was truly from her.

 Melanie with her gift, waiting for me to come downstairs so she can give it to me.

(You'll have to excuse her smile.  She's entered the inevitable "weird smile" stage.  This was the best one Matt was able to get out of her.)

 Melanie and me with her gift - a glass candle holder she had painted with flowers on it.

 Claire was a little sad/jealous that Melanie got her picture taken with me, so we snapped another one so she could be included.

After mass we went to brunch with Matt's family and then just hung out at home the rest of the day.  Matt, Claire and Amelia all took naps at the same time, so Melanie and I went outside to check on my strawberry plants since I knew they would be close to having a few ripe berries for us to pick.

The first strawberries of the 2011 season.

So much sweeter than the ones you buy in the store!

That evening we had our families over for some game time and dessert with the girls.

I always feel bad when we have big family gatherings at our parents' houses since it seems that inevitably someone ends up stuck in the kitchen and feels like they didn't get to spend much time with the girls.  My solution was to have everyone over with the specific intent of just having fun, and I think everyone enjoyed it.

Amelia enjoyed herself so much that she fell asleep before the evening was over.

So an uneventful day overall, yet so full.  We truly are blessed!

Ladies and Gentlemen...

We have a thumb sucker...

(our first one!)

... a scooter...

(she started on the lower right side of her play mat)

(complete with silly sisters who join her under the end table)

... and a roller!

When I was starting this post (which was last week) I was going to post a picture of her rolled onto her side, because at the time that was Amelia's favorite position to be in.

  I realized I didn't have a picture of her like that, so as I was trying to snap a shot of her on her side she succeeded in making it all the was from her back to her tummy for the first time.

 I've taken pictures of the other girls rolling over as babies as well, but I think this is the only time I've been able to catch the official "first" time.

Unfortunately, she rolls over almost as soon as you lay her down on a flat surface now, which is a source of frustration for her (and for me when she rolls over in the middle of the night and gets upset about it).  Hopefully she'll figure out how to get from her tummy to her back soon!

 Where is my baby going?!?!  It's only been three months!

It almost seems like Amelia is growing up faster than the other two did.  Maybe that's just because she essentially slept through the first two months of her life?  Either way, I vote for her to slow down, just a bit ;)

Lest you be under the erroneous impression that our girls are perfect little saints walking amongst us here on earth, I would like to argue otherwise.

While I had the girls confined to the upper level of the house with me so I could put away laundry (it seems like that's all I ever do!) I came down the hall to Amelia's room to find this.

  The girls had unloaded all the diapers and wipes from the closet, all the stuffed animals from the corner (this included all the lambs and bunnies Melanie and Claire have in their collections) and all the empty hangers from Amelia's closet.  I was definitely less than pleased.  They cleaned it all up, but it definitely made my blood boil, just a bit.

After staying up on Sunday night to put away the girls toys in the playroom and family room in the basement, which included climbing behind the couch to remove a bunch of toys the girls had stashed back there I came out of the computer room to find this

The girls had piled all the couch cushions and decorative pillows behind the couch, along with a bunch of toys.  They were pretty quiet about it, too.  The only reason I found out what they were doing before the entire playroom was deposited behind the couch was because Claire got wedged between the wall and a pillow and couldn't get out, so she was squealing in distress.

When I told Matt what the girls had done upon his getting home from work and my frustration at the situation he laughed and said he couldn't really get mad at them because he used to love doing the same thing as a kid.  And while I can see the entertainment value of such an activity, that doesn't make me any less annoyed at their doing it.  Especially not even 10 hours after I had cleaned it all up, 9 of which were spent sleeping.

Bedtime Story

 We read the girls a story or two before bed every night.  While we were getting Claire in her pajamas we caught Melanie reading a story for Amelia.  She really is such a sweet big sister!

Easter

 Easter Sunday was a typical holiday for us, full of family, running from one gathering to the next, and of course, food.   Here are some of the pictures we snapped throughout the day.

 The day started with Easter baskets full of goodies for the girls and Matt (if you consider handkerchiefs a "goodie", which I think Matt did) .  The Easter Bunny apparently didn't think I needed anything.  That's OK though, I ate more than my fair share of the candy.  It was a sacrificial eating of the candy, done completely for the benefit of our girls so that they didn't get a bellyache from too much sugar.  I assure you, I didn't enjoy the candy.  Not one bit.   ;)

 Showing off their felt pails for the egg hunt.

Last year Melanie tripped and fell on her basket, breaking the handle. After that I decided we would use felt pails for egg hunts in the future.  Less chance of breaking and of injuring children, a double win in my book.

 Finding all the eggs

Checking out her new rain boots - she was very excited about them!

 Some new books to add to our stash of church approved reading material

I don't remember buying teddy bear pajama pants to go under Claire's Easter dress.

 When getting the girls dressed Matt missed one important step.  

 Amelia's first Easter dress

 This was the best picture we were able to get of the girls in their dresses

Melanie and Claire with Matt's cousin's daughter.

To make things simpler we just tell the girls she's their cousin.

 Playing the piano at Grams' and Gramps' house

 Amelia and Granny Em

 Happy Easter!

He is Risen!

Alleluia!